People use personal watercraft such as kayaks and canoes for recreational activities including fishing, bird-watching, sight seeing, and the like. A traditional kayak or canoe, however, must be manually propelled using a paddle or oars. When a person is fishing in a kayak or canoe, handling a paddle or oars can prevent a person from simultaneously handling a fishing rod or other fishing gear. Similarly, when a person is bird-watching or sight seeing in a kayak or canoe, handling paddles or oars can prevent a person from simultaneously handling binoculars, maps, guidebooks, and the like. In addition, even when a paddle or oars are not being used by a paddler, having a paddle or oars onboard can sometimes interfere with the person's non-paddling activities.
Watercraft with pedal-operated propulsion devices installed overcome issues arising from having to handle a paddle or oars. A pedal propulsion device enables a person to operate the watercraft with his/her feet while having one or both hands free. Pedal propulsion devices also offer a recreational alternative to traditional paddling methods.
However, prior versions of pedaled boats suffer leakage in the pedaling assembly, breakage at connection points between the pedal assembly and the boat propeller. One area that has been found to be susceptible to the ingress of water is where the crankarms of a pedal are installed onto the propulsion device housing. Thus, there is a need for preventing water from entering into pedal propulsion devices.
Moreover, while the hands are free with the use of a pedal-operated watercraft, a person may wish to use other equipment, particularly electronic devices, in conjunction with various recreational activities. For example, a person may want to use a chartplotter or sonar radar while fishing on a watercraft. Current watercraft do not provide a convenient method of mounting such equipment for easy accessibility and visibility, or hands-free viewing. Accordingly, there still remains a need for the watercraft to easily accommodate accessories that may be used during various recreational activities.